Hortensia Bussi, Wife of Salvador Allende of Chile, Dies at 94

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Hortensia Bussi, the widow of President Salvador Allende of Chile, who helped lead the opposition to the military dictatorship that ousted him in a bloody 1973 coup, died here Thursday. She was 94.

Her physician, Dr. Paz Rojas, confirmed Ms. Bussi’s death.

Ms. Bussi’s husband was elected president as a Socialist in 1970 but was toppled three years later in an uprising by the military led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

On Sept. 11, 1973, while under air and ground attack at the presidential palace, Mr. Allende killed himself rather than surrender to the military.

His wife, known as Tencha, had sought refuge at the home of a family friend.

The next day, she was flown on a small air force plane to the resort city of Viña del Mar for her husband’s burial. She would later complain that the military sealed the coffin without letting her see his body.